Friday, December 19, 2008

::new::5 in 1 designer retail collaborative::

Dear friends and fellow local designers,This is an official invitation to membership of a collaborative designer retail project located in Williamsburg Brooklyn. As the face of fashion retail is changing due to the economic conditions and changing consumer behavior, small designers have the opportunity to take advantage of their nimbleness and flexibility. We are able to create the new “retail”, that can sustain our business and our creative endeavors.

“Consumers” are reverting back to the role of “customers”, the consumption cycle is slowing and we will see a closer relationship between customer and producer (you).Customers will be looking for access to you, your story, a bit of exclusivity and objects of value and timelessness.

Norman Rabinovich has been generous enough to allow Helena Fredriksson and I (Caroline Priebe of ULURU) to turn the front retail space of 5 in 1 into a space that fosters an alternative, collaborative retail model.

Our space is 350 prime square ft located on 60 N.6th St. between Wythe and Kent. We are surrounded by Williamsburg Music Hall, Built By Wendy, Noisette, and mc&co. A block away you’ll find American Apparel, Future Perfect, Sweet William and Sleep.

We propose the collaboration as this:- the shop is open on weekends only.- each member works one full weekend every 6-8 weeks depending on the number of members we organize.- the shop will be stocked with each participating designers pieces of choice.- the weekend you work the shop, can be used as an outlet to feature your product, meet one on one with your customers, hold trunk shows, samples sales, test one of a kind and/or new pieces/ideas. - a few other local designers place goods on consignment in the shop for a 40-60 split. 30% going to the collaborative for maintenance costs and 10% to Norman for credit card fees, sales tax, etc.- for member designers who work, the split is 20-80. 10% going to the collaborative for maintenance and 10% to Norman for credit card fees, sales tax etc.- each designer will be expected to add to the PR efforts individually and as a collective. we would like to advantage of power in numbers.- checks will be cut to members at the end of each month.- members must keep their own inventory. a simple system will be put in place in shop to log sales and must be tallied at the end of your sunday shift.- this project will only work if trust is established between designers and a belief that what is good for one of us is good for all of us.

If this proposal interests you, please contact Helena or myself before Jan.10th and we will be scheduling a meeting. If you have any friends or colleagues you feel would be a good candidate for this project please send a referral.

We are hoping to open early to mid February but would like to send out a press release with a finalized list of designer members as soon as possible.